Page 2 - Kill Operation News Today

With knowledge by the libyan government. talk us through that. >> that latter detail is interesting. obviously in the case of the osama bin laden raid, which was conducted in the pakistani city and was a capture or kill operation, it was done without the pakistani government and caused problems for the u.s./pakistan relationship. after all, these are sovereigning countries. you know, you are supposed to get permission to do these kind of operations. obviously, the bin laden case was exceptional....

square last year. an extraordinary development and we mobilized cnn correspondents around the world to cover this breaking news story for us from the pentagon to istanbuistanbul. its hard to indicate just how important al awlaki was to the organization, but heres a frightening reality. he may be more dangerous dead. thats exactly what our nic robertson has been covering to this point. lets go straight to you. what exactly do you know with regard to how he was targeted and is it possibl...

To make it an official white house release, when you put out photographs like that, its an image how youre projecting your force. one of the things about this raid took us from this whole period of cowboy swagger, were going to get them, but then bumbling or not managing to do it, to a place where a very cool, very effective operation was done, that was gruesome, that was hard, that was cold, that was relentless, but managed without swagger and managed without gloating. and it doesnt seem to me ...

Members actually took part in this operation? because ive seen different numbers. >> reporter: yeah, weve seen everything from -- a normal platoon would be about 40, anderson. weve seen the number at about two dozen. that could be a breakdown into how many people were actually dropped on the ground and how many were up in the air. another key point we found out was they were originally all supposed to fast drop down those ropes into the compound but when one of the helicopters had to land with m...

>> at least one photo said to be very graphic and gruesome. joining me here at ground zero, phillip gourevitch. phillip, you dont believe the photos should be released. why? >> i dont think they should be released immediately. to make it an official white house release, when you put out photographs like that, its an image how youre projecting your force. this raid took us from this whole period of cowboy swagger, were going to get them, but then bumbling or not managing to do it, to a place wher...

Deserves enormous credit. it was a tough decision. it landed on his desk. as harry truman famously said, the buck stops here. there were risks in the operation. americans could have been killed. it might have been that nobody was there. it might have been that we could have had a terrible rupture in relations with pakistan. he made the call. it turns out it was the right call. i think he gets the credit for it. he would have gotten a lot of criticism if this would have gone bad. but lets also be...

In guantanamo did lead to information that was beneficial in this instance. but it was not harsh treatment, it was not waterboarding. >> joining me now is paul wolfowitz, former deputy secretary of defense for president bush and former president of the world bank. i apologize for the noise, im at ground zero. where thankfully construction is going on all night long. so that is what the jackhammering is behind me. you said this operation rested heavily on some of the more controversial policies o...

Were coming to you live from ground zero. a remarkable vantage point we have from the penthouse of the world center hotel, which is right on washington street overlooking ground zero. if you come and stay at this hotel, theres a remarkable view of the construction, which you can hear going on right now, even at this late hour and it goes well into the night. theyre busy trying to rebuild the number of buildings at ground zero. about two dozen navy s.e.a.l. commandos were involved in the operatio...

Locate bin laden. >> i think we have to know whether they knew. if the pakistanis knew. if they didnt know, why didnt they know? why didnt they pay more attention to it? >> neighbors in abbottabad say they were turned to learn bin laden had been living amongst them. one said local kids who kicked a ball into the walled compound were not allowed on the grounds to retrieve it and given money instead for the ball. the walled compound now sits empty, closed off to the public. the worlds most wanted ...

>> i mean, what secretary rumsfeld was saying, he was careful of saying no member of the defense department was waterboarding khalid shaikh mohammed. there are other groups who could have been, the cia, other groups, as well. do you think president obama, though, deserves the credit hes been getting for this? or do you give the credit to the bush administration or both? >> i think president obama deserves enormous credit. it was a tough decision. it landed on his desk. as harry truman famously s...